(1) Field of the Invention
This invention is concerned with shoe machines, more especially shoe machines for use in the lasting of side portions of shoe uppers, or shoe machines for use in the lasting of heel seat and side portions of shoe uppers.
(2) Prior Art
Articulated shoe lasting machines have taken a variety of forms in the prior art. They are embodied in U.S. Pat. No. 3,685,072 and U.K Pat. Nos. 1,339,875; 1,040,882; 355,817; 246,582; and 1,011,730. These patents represent machines having particular characteristics.
One such machine comprises a support for a shoe last on which an upper, the side portions of which are to be lasted, and an insole positioned, has two side lasting assemblies arranged so as to act on opposite side portions of an upper placed on a last supported by said support. Each side lasting assembly comprises a plurality of wiping elements arranged side-by-side so as to engage a corresponding side portion of the upper along the length thereof, said elements being movable inwardly so as to wipe the upper portion engaged thereby over the insole margin and to press it thereagainst.
Further in that machine, the wiping elements of each side lasting assembly are mounted in pairs, each pair being carried by a forked member which is itself mounted for limited pivotal movement, independently of the forked member(s) adjacent thereto, about a first axis extending transversely of the last bottom. Each pair of wiping elements can to some degree conform to the contour to the shoe bottom being operated upon. In addition, each wiping element is mounted for limited pivotal and heightwise movement, independently of the other element, such pivotal movement being about a second axis extending lengthwise of the shoe bottom, whereby each wiping element can conform to the widthwise curvature of the last bottom. Still further in the prior art, each side lasting assembly of the machine is mounted for bodily pivotal movement about a third axis extending transversely of the last bottom, in the plane of the heel seat region of such last bottom. Thus, when the side lasting assemblies are provided in a combined heel seat and side lasting machine, the axis extends in the plane of the work-engaging surface of the heel seat wiper members of the machine, through the edge, adjacent the assemblies, of said members.
By the arrangement described above, it is intended to accommodate the side lasting assemblies to the contour of the last bottom or style of shoe being operated upon, without the necessity for changing the side lasting assemblies, or the wiping elements thereof, while maintaining a substantially continuous wiping surface in the side regions of the shoe.
It will however, be appreciated that, by mounting the wiping elements in pairs as aforesaid, and pivoting them as a pair, the elements can only approximate the contour of the shoe bottom being operated upon. Especially in the case of a high-heeled shoe, where the curvature of the shoe bottom changes from concave to convex, the wiping elements mounted in pairs may be inadequate to provide a substantially continuous wiping surface.
In another prior art machine, the wiping elements are connected independently of one another to a mounting, by means of two ball-and-socket connections. The connections facilitate limited pivotal movement of each wiping element, independently of the element adjacent thereto, about first and second axes extending respectively transversely and lengthwise of the last bottom. In this prior art machine however, the first axis, extending transversely of the last bottom, passes through the second axis, with the result that the plane of the work-engaging surface of the wiping element is spaced apart from the second axis. This arrangement however, despite each wiping element being provided with shaped sides for accommodating pivotal movement about said first axis, permits pivotal movement which may be hampered by adjacent wiping elements "binding" on each other. Further pivoting movement tends to militate against providing a continuous wiping surface.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved shoe lasting machine for the use in the lasting of side portions of shoe uppers, in which the geometric arrangement of the wiping elements of side lasting assemblies thereof can be readily adapted to the contour of the shoe bottom being operated upon, while presenting a substantially continuous wiping surface thereto.